We are straight into the midst of battle as Peter trades blows with the new
Venom. Pete admits it isn't the first time he's fought for his life in the
school showers which seemingly alludes to awful prison-type soap game. Or maybe
not. The new Venom has told Pete he is now Angelo, presumably while they were
fighting. Meanwhile, outside in the reunion, some guy is trying to chat MJ up by
claiming he's Spider-Man. His chat-up line is shot down, though, when Spidey and
Venom burst through the wall.

The fight moves outside and Venom ends up being hit by a truck, while Spidey
simultaneously saves a puppy from the crash. (Yuk!) Venom picks up the truck and
hurls it through the air. Spidey launches himself through the windscreen to grab
the driver and leap to safety out the back doors ... which is pretty cool to say
the least.

Venom is up on a roof and Spidey gives chase. Angelo has learned the
invisibility trick pretty quickly though and pops up behind Spider-Man landing a
massive punch which, goes right through him. However, it's not Spider-Man. It's
somebody else dressed up as Spider-Man, trying to cash in on the $5m reward.

The fake Spidey's assistant is also up on the roof with his camera. He
distracts Venom, while Spider-Man batters Angelo. Angelo wants to give in and
there's an internal struggle between him and the symbiote.

The symbiote abandons Angelo mid-swing and he crashes to his death, Spider-Man
unable to save him as he is out of webbing (I guess this takes place before
Spectacular v2 20). Elsewhere, Eddie Brock has slit his wrists.

At the Bugle, Peter is determined to get the $5m bounty removed from the Bugle.
He asks to speak to Jonah alone and shows him some photos he claims proves John
Jameson is Spider-Man. He says he and John had a deal going back in the day so
Pete could take his picture.

Jonah clearly believes Peter and sends him away with half-a-million pounds from
the anonymous donor saying he can't now print the pictures. Pete doesn't know
what to do with the money but ends up leaving it – in the name of Adrian (as in
the Vulture) – for the woman from the diner in issue seven.

At the police station, Peter gets a call on his mobile. It is apparently the
mastermind behind May's kidnapping and everything else that has gone on
recently. He is stuck to a pole high above NYC and tells Pete they'll have to
meet for lunch tomorrow.

In General...

Whew. Another good ending. We now know the kidnapper can hang upside down and
also stick to walls, which only adds to the intrigue.

As for this issue ... I liked it without being bowled over by it. I love the way
the symbiote ditched Angelo mid-swing and that it is now free to return as
someone else at any time. Eddie Brock's apparent suicide was glossed over a bit
too quickly for my liking but I'm not necessarily that bothered that he's gone.
Still, there's nothing to say that the symbiote didn't find him in time and save
him...

The other big development here was Jonah 'finding out' his son is/was Spider-
Man. It leaves a new dynamic – what does Jonah write about Spidey from now on,
for instance? Having said that, I'm not sure I buy that he just believed it
quite so easily – especially enough to hand over half-a-million! In Amazing
Spider-Man #190, Jonah saw Spider-Man 'push' Man-Wolf (John) to his apparent
death. Convincing him that was some big ploy would take an awful lot of doing.

Something just doesn't ring quite right about the scenario Mark Millar paints
there.

In the plus column, Pete leaving that money anonymously for the Vulture's
grandson's mother is a really nice touch. After everything Byrne and Mackie put
Pete through (making him sleep rough and so on) the character could easily be
forgiven for taking the money and using it to pay off his and MJ's debts. This
just shows what Pete actually means as a character though.
As for the art, Frank Cho, who's the guest artist, does a pretty good job in
place of the Dodsons. I'm not sure about his Peter though. To me, it just
doesn't look like the Peter who's been drawn so many times before. Also, he has
drawn MJ's, erm, 'bits' as if she's competing with a Dodson-drawn Black Cat. Not
that there's anything wrong with that...

Overall Rating...

Good but not as great as it could have been. Spidey as John and the $5m reward
was tidied up just a bit too quickly. Still, the identity of the mastermind is
one of the most eagerly-awaited moments in Spider-Man history in years, so it's
not all bad.

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